History Literature / TheCallOfCthulhu

The story is presented as a manuscript found among the belongings of the late Francis Wayland Thurston, which is used as a narrative which joins together three short stories, each bigger, darker, bleaker, and more memorable than the last. The first story tells of his late uncle's conversations with a young sculptor named Wilcox who has been influenced by strange dreams that influenced him to create a disturbing bas-relief.

Adapted in 2005 into an impressive film by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Incredibly faithful to the original text and presented in the form of a silent movie from the 1920's, a must-see for any Lovecraft or horror fan.

Not to be confused with the roleplaying game ''CallOfCthulhu'', or the YouTube series ''CallsForCthulhu''.

** The narrator himself is mentioned to have died before the story begins.

* ActionSurvivor: Johansen manages to escape from R'lyeh while his crew mates are unable to navigate its geometry and fall to their deaths, gets back to his ship, and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu rams Cthulhu himself ''head on'']].

* ApocalypticLog: The story itself could count, since it is implied that everything that the narrator is caught up in [[spoiler: leads to his murder by cultists]]. Gustaf Johansen's journal also comes close.

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Gustaf Johansen manages to survive against all odds and presumably stops Cthulhu from bringing about the end of the world. However, Cthulhu is still very much alive, and Johansen not only goes insane as a result of the experience but it is suggested that he was murdered by cultists]].

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Johansen successfully prevents Cthulhu from ending the world[[spoiler: though at the cost of his sanity and soon after his life]].

In the third and final part of the story, Thurston encounters a newspaper clipping describing the rescue of the lone survivor of the crew of ''Alert'', a Norwegian sailor named Gustaf Johansen. Thurston is eventually able to recover a journal Johansen wrote, which tells the tale of how he and his crew commandeered a yacht from a particularly sinister crew of men (implied to be cultists), and their arrival at the sunken city of R'lyeh, where Cthulhu is nearly released by mistake.

* EldritchAbomination: Cthulhu himself.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Gustaf Johansen.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Inspector Legrasse]] in the 2005 film, though his death happens off-screen and is only referred to at the end.

The second story tells of Inspector Legrasse, a police officer in New Orleans whose investigation of a series of dissapearances leads him to a rather sinister cult worshipping a strange idol. The cultists are immediately arrested and taken to prison and the idol is confiscated. Legrasse then shares the idol amongs various archeologists, hoping to gain answers as to its nature. Eventually through one man's testimony and the questioning of some of the cultists, Legrasse learns that the idol is "Great Cthulhu", a being worshipped by this cult which has presumably lived for centuries.

In the third and final part of the story, Thurston encounters a newspaper clipping describing the rescue of the lone survivor of the crew of ''Alert'', a Norwegian sailor named Gustaf Johansen. Thurston is eventually able to recover a journal Johansen wroter, which tells the tale of how he and his crew commandeered a yacht from a particularly sinister crew of men (implied to be cultists), and their arrival at the sunken city of R'lyeh, where Cthulhu is nearly released by mistake.

Not to be confused with the roleplaying game CallOfCthulhu or the YouTube series CallsForCthulhu or the role-playing game CallOfCthulhu.

* ActionSurvivor: Johansen manages to escape from R'lyeh while his crewmates are unable to navigate its geometry and fall to their deaths, gets back to his ship, and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu rams Cthulhu himself ''head on'']].

* {{Cult}}: The second part of the story involves a group of police officers arresting a cult of Cthulhu while investigating a series of disappearances - [[spoiler: victims of said cult, sacrifices made for Cthulhu]]. It is strongly suggested that they are behind the murders of [[spoiler: Johansen and possibly the narrator]].

* PosthumousCharacter: The narrator's uncle.

* TheUnpronounceable: "Cthulhu" is an approximation of an alien language that humanity lacks the necessary body components to pronounce.

''The Call of Cthulhu'' is arguably the most famous short story by horror writer Creator/HPLovecraft, and is often labelled as the point where Lovecraft's style really started started to take shape (you might say this story is where the Mythos [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard). It is also the only story written by Lovecraft himself to actually feature the famous EldritchAbomination, who would later name the CthulhuMythos as other writers took over.

''The Call of Cthulhu'' is arguably the most famous short story by horror writer Creator/HPLovecraft. It is also the only story written by Lovecraft himself to actually feature the famous EldritchAbomination, who would later name the CthulhuMythos as other writers took over.

The story is presented as a manuscript found among the belongings of the late Francis Wayland Thurston, which is used as a narrative which joins together three short stories, each bigger than the last. The first story tells of his late uncle's conversations with a young sculptor named Wilcox who has been influenced by strange dreams that influenced him to create a disturbing bas-relief.

The story centers around a man who is sorting through his late uncle's belongings. While doing so, he accidentally discovers a series of accounts his uncle had collected. In the first one, a sculptor has strange dreams that influence his art. In the second, a police officer named Legrasse discovers an ancient cult. Finally, the man accidentally encounters a third story, in a journal by a Norwegian sailor detailing his discovery of a mysterious island and his confrontation with Cthulhu himself.

Adapted in 2005 into an impressive film by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Incredibly faithful to the original short story and presented in the form of a silent movie from the 1920's, a must-see for any Lovecraft or horror fan.

Not to be confused with the roleplaying game CallOfCthulhu or the YouTube series CallsForCthulhu.

* {{Cult}}: The second part of the story involves a group of police officers arresting a cult of Cthulhu while investigating a series of dissapearances- [[spoiler: victims of said cult, sacrifices made for Cthulhu]]. It is strongly suggested that they are behind the murders of [[spoiler: Johansen and possibly the narrator]].

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: The narrator finally understands what is really going on, but he also realizes that both the cult and Cthulhu himself are still live, and realizes to his horror that he may die very soon. The movie expands on this by showing him to be institutionalized, and the implication that his psychiatrist will soon follow the same path]].
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Sort of. Wilcox is influenced to create a disturbing bas-relief by a series of weird dreams. The dreams themselves don't actually predict the future, but the impact they have helps to fortell the inevitable rise of Cthulhu.

* TheUnpronounceable: "Cthulhu" is an approximation of an alien language that humanity lacks the neccessary body components to pronounce.

The story centers around a man who is sorting through his late uncle's belongings. While doing so, he accidentally discovers a series of accounts his uncle had collected. In the first one, a sculptor has strange dreams that influence his art. In the second, a police officer named Legrasse discovers and ancient cult. Finally, the man accidentally encounters a third story, in a journal by a Norwegian sailor detailing his discovery of a mysterious island and his confrontation with Cthulhu himself.

''The Call of Cthulhu'' is arguably the most famous short story by horror writer Creator/HPLovecraft, and the only story written by Lovecraft himself to actually feature the titular EldritchAbomination, who would later name the CthulhuMythos as other writers took over.

''The Call of Cthulhu'' is arguably the most famous short story by horror writer Creator/HPLovecraft, and the only one to actually feature the famous EldritchAbomination Cthulhu.

Not to be confused with the roleplaying game CallOfCthulhu or the YouTube series CallsForCthulhu

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: The narrator finally understands what is really going on, but he also realizes that both the cult and Cthulhu himself still live, and realizes to his horror that he may die very soon. The movie expands on this by showing him to be institutionalized, and the implication that his psychiatrist will soon follow the same path]].

* SoleSurvivor: It's stated early on that Johansen was the only surviving crew member when the ''Alert'' was found. [[spoiler: Not that it lasted long]].

* SparedByAdaptation: [[spoiler: The narrator]] in the 2005 film. [[spoiler: Though the final scene implies that he won't last much longer]].

Adapted in 2005 into an impressive silent film- a must see.